WASHINGTON — President Biden again denied Friday that he interacted with business associates of his brother James Biden and son Hunter Biden — despite Hunter himself confirming to Congress this week that his dad attended a pair of DC dinners as vice president with various foreign patrons.
The 81-year-old president blasted House Speaker Mike Johnson’s assertion that Biden is “lying” about those interactions amid the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into alleged corruption.
“Tell him to read the record of every single witness,” Biden told a Post reporter on the White House lawn as he departed to Camp David following his son’s Wednesday testimony in the impeachment inquiry.
“These guys have got to stop this stuff,” Biden added.
When pressed, he insisted, “I did not interact with their partners.”
Biden snapped “No” to a follow-up question about whether he attended dinners and a lunch with his son and brother’s foreign business associates, as described in testimony.
Johnson (R-La.) responded on X: “Yet another lie from the President about his involvement in his family’s influence-peddling schemes. Here’s a reminder, Mr. President,” with a link to an Oversight Committee rundown of alleged interactions.
Biden previously claimed on Dec. 6 that “I did not” interact with his brother or son’s foreign partners, calling the suggestion “lies” when responding to an Associated Press poll that found 68% of Americans, including 40% of Democrats, thought he acted illegally or unethically in his son’s business dealings.
Emails, witness testimony and even photos show Joe Biden encountered his son and brother’s associates from two different Chinese government-linked business deals and others from Mexico, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine, in addition to many of their US business partners.
Hunter, 54, confirmed Wednesday that his dad did mingle with associates from Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine at two dinners at DC’s Cafe Milano restaurant in 2014 and 2015.
Vadym Pozharskyi, an executive at Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, which paid Hunter a $1 million annual salary beginning in 2014 as his father spearheaded US policy toward Kyiv, attended one dinner, Hunter acknowledged to the panels investigating his dad.
“I do believe that Vadym was at one of these dinners, yes,” the first son said, backing The Post’s initial October 2020 reporting on documents from Hunter’s abandoned laptop, which revealed a thank-you note from Pozharskyi for “giving an opportunity to meet your father” at the April 16, 2015, get-together.
Hunter confirmed the dinners also included Russian billionaire and former Moscow first lady Yelena Baturina, who reportedly transferred $3.5 million on Feb. 14, 2014, to a company jointly owned by Hunter and business partner Devon Archer, and Kazakhstani businessman Kenes Rakishev, who purchased Hunter a $142,000 sports car.
Joe Biden even posed for a photo with Rakishev.
“I believe that he probably had a Coca-Cola and a bowl of spaghetti,” Hunter said of his dad’s presence at one of the Cafe Milano gatherings — though other witnesses have described Joe Biden as having a full meal while in attendance.
“I don’t think I ever introduced him [Joe Biden] to her [Baturina]. I think that she was also at a dinner over the course…
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